The art for this book is impressive to say the least. Every man is sexy, every woman is beautiful. Even the backgrounds and side characters are eyecatching. Clearly great care and love was put into the art, and I commend the artist on this achievement. The story... Maybe it's the translation, but the story seemed all over the place, disjointed, and difficult to follow. The arcs were highly episodic, and they didn't truly seem related except by a thin shred composed of one small piece of the overarching plot. Speaking of the overarching plot...this story is unfinished. I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened with Master and Phoenix (and Wei Wei and Dragon Throne to a lesser extent). Both of these plot lines are entirely unresolved by the last chapter. It's a *massive* disappointment. Since that was my main reason for hanging in there through some truly baffling and convoluted story twists, I feel like I wasted my time and coins. I never got to read the end of the main story or the main substory, so what was the point? There wasn't one. Total let down. Would not recommend the story except for the art. If it actually had conclusions to the main story lines, I'd rate it higher but here's the breakdown as is out of 5 possible stars
Art: 6. it gets a bonus star for being so gorgeous. I can not overemphasize the delight or praise this element enough.
Plot: 2. It twisted and turned in ways that weren't clear or appealing. The mini arcs were almost stand alone stories that barely served to push the main story any further.
Characterization: 4. The characters were well developed and each had a unique and discernible personality. They added to the enjoyment of the book overall.
Romantic Progression: 1. By the end, it felt like almost nothing had happened to substantially move the ml and fl closer together. Any gains seemed almost entirely forgotten just a few pages later. The mystery was built up slowly but never solved. The side ships managed a little better, but, all told, those romances were also inconclusive after 112 chapters. If you read the first 20-40 chapters, you see all of them about as far as they'll go by the end.
General: 2. Would not recommend except to appreciate the art. Spend coins elsewhere.
On a related note, anyone else thoroughly irritated and put off by "completed" books that aren't really? Can writers *please* start finishing their works with *actual* endings instead of just giving up and acting like being defeated by their own works is completion? Just saying.
